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Oliver Hickfang, Partner of 3digitalminds, told cookiesncode some details about his philosophy of fashion mass customization in China. Read the whole interview here:

What are your personal associations with the term “mass-customisation”- what does it mean to you?

When I first time ever heard about mass-customisation I thought, isn’t that just a new commercial buzz word or – even worse – a contradiction in itself? I asked myself, how can a company make money by following a single customer wish on a scalable mass production plattform? Now, some years and some purchases of mass-customized products later I know better: the combination of smart management, smart production processes, the interactive web and last but not least the outsourcing of tasks to the customer makes mass-customization possible. And, by the way, DIY is nothing new but a re-invention of the “do it yourself” movement from the 50s and 60s when the mass effective production took place in the western world and some people just weren’t unsatisfied with style and image guidelines from the industry. The combination of our actual production and distribution knowledge with the creative and social knowledge of the customer will create the best customized products we have seen so far.

Do you remember in which context you first came across it?

As I remember the first time ever I purchased a customized product was some years ago during an Indiatrip where I found a custom tailor for suits. After measurement and agreeing on the style details the suit was ready to wear within 5 days. I had the chance to visit the production place and was surprised about the well organized processes: each tailor was responsible for sewing just very few dedicated pieces of the suit, one tailor sewed all pieces together and one was responsible for the final quality check. The concept of mass production with a personal touch was fully understood.

Do you know why there is this sudden interest in MC and related concepts at the moment?

First: people are sick and tired of wearing boring clothes or possessing mass products which they might find in their friends place as well. A person in an affluent society who basically has everything needs the next kick which is something special, personal, and individual. Second: The social web along with borderless interaction stimulates consumers to exchange and show their creations. Nothing is more appealing and worth talking about than own achievements and nothing is more interesting for friends to share and be proud of. Third: where a demand is also a supply. Companies are aware of the trend for customization and by answering it with products and services they even more stimulate the development.

Why/ in which situation did you decide to employ MC/work with MC- a little background?

Some years ago I had the idea to open a company for mass customized business shirts but a great offer from an international consulting company came across so I skipped that idea. However, I never totally buried that idea. After living in Chinafor some years and experiencing the matchless demand of 1, 3 Billion people with black hair and brown eyes for appearing a little bit more individual I decided to open my own company in the co-creation field.

How did that work out for you- what new challenges did it raise for you and how did you deal with them?

Asian markets, especially China, are highly challenging and demanding. Not only concerning the set up and the running of a company but also the complex cultural background and history which effects consumer’s predispositions. For example, the color white in Europemeans beauty and virginity; in Chinait might be associated with death as well as the number 4. Especially Chinais facing a development from an agricultural based country to a modern industrialised country in now time. While Europeand the USAneeded some decades to introduce landline telephone to every household the Chinese just skipped the landline and introduced mobile smart phones. Very fast developments not seldom have their victims and often the law and reliably regulations stay behind the actual reality. From my opinion the biggest challenge in Chinais having a strong and reliable network, a long term vision and piece of mind.

Source: Social e-commerce in China, mass customization & personalization

Google publicly declared its intention in March to move its Chinese-language Internet search operation in Hong Kong in hopes of bypassing censorship laws for companies that operate in mainland China, but the public showdown with the Chinese government never seemed destined for a happy ending. Google announced late Tuesday night that China will not renew its Internet Content Provider license–a key authorization scheduled to expire Wednesday–unless Google stops redirecting Google.cn visitors to Google.com.hk.

It seems unlikely that its newest strategy will past scrutiny either. Instead of automatically redirecting Google.cn users, Google has created a landing page at Google.cn “where users can conduct web search or continue to use Google.cn services like music and text translate, which we can provide locally without filtering,” Google said in a blog post. “This approach ensures we stay true to our commitment not to censor our results on Google.cn and gives users access to all of our services from one page.”

Read the full story here:  http://news.cnet.com/8301-30684_3-20009111-265.html

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Baidu to hire U.S. engineers to work in China

Baidu Inc, China’s leading search engine, will start hiring software engineers directly from the United States early next month, as it seeks to expand its technological capabilities and raise its global profile.

Baidu (BIDU.O) stands to be the biggest beneficiary in China’s search sector after Google Inc (GOOG.O) relocated its China servers to Hong Kong following a high-profile spat with Beijing over censorship and hacking.

Baidu would hire 30 mid-to senior-level software engineers from Silicon Valley at a job fair on July 10 to drive new technology projects, its first direct hiring from the United States, a Baidu spokesman told Reuters on Tuesday.

“Baidu believes that talent is the key to our success as a company, and we go where ever the best talent can be found, whether here in China or in Silicon Valley,” Zheng Bin, Baidu’s human resources director said in a statement to Reuters.

“As we develop more and more advanced search technologies, our need for world-class talent will only continue to increase.”

Baidu is a household name in China but not well known overseas. Baidu Japan, the firm’s venture into the Japanese search market, has been loss-making ever since its inception.

Read full article here: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTOE65S0332010062

Speaking to Media at the Cannes International Advertising Festival, Schmidt confirmed google.cn was back online. “Officially, what I can say is: we will continue to meet with the Government to address their concerns, and we wish to communicate directly with them in regard to our services and progress in addressing this problem.”

China’s crackdown on Google is the latest move in its recent efforts to crackdown on pornography. Earlier in June, the government issued a directive requiring the installation of Green Dam Youth Escort software on Chinese computers as of 1 July.

The software aims to protect youth from pornography and other inappropriate materials.

However, the Chinese Government has come under intense criticism both inside and outside China. Critics argue that the software will enable the government to increase its censorship of content accessible to the more than 300 million Chinese people who currently use the internet.

Schmidt said that it was at their “peril” that governments attempted to impose blackouts on media such as TV, internet, radio and mobile phones.

He added that the search giant, which owns video-sharing website YouTube, consistently tried to explain to regimes that restrict communication that, ultimately, attempts to isolate a population fail.

“We have lots of lawyers, lawyers in every one of these countries,” Schmidt said. “We explain if they do this [block freedom of speech and communication] what will happen. Sometimes they moderate their behaviour and sometimes not. If they don’t listen to us it is at their peril.”

Schmidt expanded on this point: “By ‘peril’ I mean it is what the citizens will do, citizens can no longer be restricted by the kind of strategies evil dictatorships [use]… you can’t keep people in the dark.”

Schmidt said he hoped that the many clips of violent protest scenes in Iran, for example, posted on YouTube – in many cases the only footage available following reporting bans for international media – had helped to “moderate an over-reaction by the government”.

“The internet is the strongest force for individual self-expression ever invented,” Schmidt said.

“Governments around the world, even democratically elected, have difficulty with [the flow of] information online. Dictatorships and closed communities one after the other will try and shut down communication from inside. Strategies governments use trying to shut down people’s speech are terrible strategies and will not succeed,” he added.

Source: http://www.brandrepublic.asia

According to the report, the downward revision this year, from 19.7 per cent to 18.2 per cent, is due to the impact of the May earthquake, and an expected post-Olympics slowdown. 2009, meanwhile, sees a more significant decline from 13.2 per cent growth to 10.9 per cent growth for the world’s third largest advertising market.

Elsewhere in Asia, Japan’s forecast remains steady at 1.5 per cent growth this year, and 0.5 per cent growth in 2009. Overall, worldwide adspend has been revised downward from six per cent to 4.9 per cent this year.

“In APAC we see both a faster than global growth and a very fast digital development making the region more important for global advertisers,” said Aegis Media Asia-Pacific CEO Patrick Stahle. “With China likely to become the second largest advertising market after the US in 2009, and the Chinese middle class growing at an incredible rate, this is bound to place even more focus on China after the Olympics.”

Need for specialist in China marketing

The habits of Chinese consumers were not considered or simply unknown as well as the way of marketing communication in China. Even basic rules were kicked aside. Good marketing in China should be done with a partner who has long-lasting experience in the Chinese markets and knows and understands the Chinese people and their habits.

Creative circle offers China marketing services

Some highly-specialized and skilled agencies from various marketing channels joined together to form a network for China marketing and China advertising. All partners of this marketing and creative network in Shanghai and Beijing are WFOEs (wholly foreign owned enterprises) and offer top marketing services at Western quality. Nevertheless, they all have long-lasting experience with marketing in China and have a deep understanding of the Chinese market and Chinese consumers.

Marketing services cover these creative areas:

• Internet Marketing China
• Web Design China
• Product Design China
• Product Photography China
• TV spot production and image film China
• Direct Mailing China

If you are interested in Chinese marketing services as mentioned above, please write me a short mail via the contact form.